Consider for a moment the food requirements of the Continental Army. Washington estimated that 15,000 men consumed 20 million pounds of meat and 100,000 barrels of flour annually. Until the evacuation of Manhattan in fall 1776, the American forces were reasonably well provisioned with pork and beef, bread, rice, and cornmeal, as well as fresh produce. But for the remainder of the war, supplies of meat, flour, and bread fluctuated widely; vegetables were often scarce, with the most severe shortages experienced in winter camps at Valley Forge and Morristown in 1778 and 1779.
